"No, nothing makes sense
Nothing seems to fit
I know you'd hit out
If you only knew who to hit
And I'd join the movement
If there was one I could believe in
Yeah I'd break bread and wine
If there was a church I could receive in
'Cause I need it now"( Acrobat - U2, from "Achtung Baby") -See 1
When I read The Handmaid's tale back in October, 2019 ( See 1), the primary reason back then was to read the recently announced co-winner of that year's Booker award. But things take on a trail of its own, and here I find that I have taken almost 30 months to read that intended book, The Testaments - but read I did.
In principle, it is a very important work, as it reveals how an authoritarian state will never be a just place, for man ( and woman), will always have limitations in meting out justice - especially when it is a matter of personal advantage. It being an almost daily occurrence, especially in South Asian countries like ours, in terms how politicians behave, there is no doubt about the wisdom of the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary to check on each other. But our leaders have such a flair at finding loopholes, with us the public conniving, mostly through disregard to detail, and what is not apparent.
As far as literature goes, I felt that this was far too well developed for its own good, and I felt that however powerful she maybe, Lydia gets her way a tad too easily - I was a little unconvinced in that regard. Yes, Aunt Lydia - irrespective of how stretched some of her latter day deception is, she is the character to focus on.
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one most travelled by. It was littered with corpses, as such roads are. But as you will have noticed, my own corpse is not among them.”
She clearly wasn't one who had qualms about most of what she did. She knew that she loved her life too much to die - and death too can come in more ways than one. And Gilead wasn't forgiving. The only option she had, was to do her level best to leave this world, a hopeful place, if not a better place than her lot brought upon her.
Another quote towards the end is:
"Some historians have even argued that persons of that age are especially suitable for such escapades, as the young are idealistic, have an underdeveloped sense of their own mortality, and are afflicted with an exaggerated thirst for justice."
For me, the most hopeful thing about life, is the youth, and the children - for they will know more than I will ever know (as Armstrong sang ) - and they tolerate less prejudice, conceit, and outdated beliefs. As such, not withstanding the weaknesses I've mentioned above, I think this is a book of hope. Atwood herself has told the The Time she "sees the world as shifting more toward Gilead than away from it, a sentiment unlikely to dissipate in the near future", which the optimist in me finds a little stretched in its bleakness to believe.
As for the Booker award, I think the other book, Girl, Woman, Other was the better read.
1 - https://me-and-err.blogspot.com/2019/10/nolite-te-bastardes-carborundorum.html
Rating: ***1/2
Awards: Joint winner - Booker Award - 2019
( Photo credits - www.guardian.com )
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